When trailers are backed into loading bays, they face several challenges related to location and driver awareness. One problem occurs with the status of the doors on a truck or trailer. In particular, doors on the truck or trailer may not be secured properly and thus be only partially open. During reversing maneuvers, such unsecured doors may be damaged.
Further, it is sometimes desirable for fleet tracking purposes, cargo management purposes and/or facility management purposes to know the location of a vehicle or trailer. Knowing the location of the trailer or vehicle while it is backing up to a loading or unloading facility is sometimes problematic. Specifically, during the backing up into the loading bay, if an overhang exists over the loading bay, this may obscure GPS readings and make it impossible for the trailer to report its location.
Further, even without an overhang, loading bay doors are often very close together and therefore an accurate location of the trailer with regard to the particular loading bay that the trailer has backed into may not be readily apparent.